If you enjoyed Spike TV’s reality show DEA then you’re in luck; those jack-booted Drug Enforcement DEA Agents featured on the Spike TV show DEA.Agents have returned for a second season. However, this time the series takes place in Newark, New Jersey, which they claim is “a central front for the DEA.” The new season has all the storm trooper tactics you’d expect from DEA, complete with interrogations centered on classic “good cop/bad cop” nonsense.

According to the narrator, Newark is where they “do battle in a powder keg of money, guns and drugs.” DEA fuses the high-adrenaline elements of Cops with the paranoia and backstabbing of The Mole. So if you’re jonesin’ to find out how the law enforcement operates, than look no farther than Spike TV. This new season promises to be a hit in penitentiaries and other criminal institutions throughout the country.

Although the show claims that the DEA spends large amounts of time doing surveillance, that is hardly what is portrayed onscreen. Instead, DEA depicts a world where suspects make immediate and irreversible mistakes the instant they come under the watchful eyes of the special agents. Like TV cowboys they always get their man. However, it’s worth wondering how these officers feel about fighting in this nation’s longest war: a costly endeavor in which they are so clearly on the losing side. What reinforces the “war” metaphor is the manner in which these predominantly white teams refer to primarily black neighborhoods as “enemy territory” and occasionally will break into dehumanizing rants about how “these people are all scum bags.”

The first season of DEA followed a group of agents as they made busts in and around Detroit, Michigan. It seemed like a cheap shot to pick our nation’s only black metropolis in which to film this particular brand of “reality” show. Not long ago the Motor City hosted the World Series, the All Star Game and Superbowl XL without a snag, but recently the national media has been fixated on Detroit’s mayoral scandal, along with its housing and employment crisis which are now being felt by the nation writ large. Forbes Magazine in particular chose Detroit as the United States’ “Most Miserable City.” It’s important to note that Forbes’ core readers are the bankers who got us into this financial crisis, so thanks Forbes, go fuck yourself.

The War on Drugs has provided the DEA with enormous resources, however in this war of attrition it’s the drug manufacturers who have the real edge. Just as soon as the DEA cracks down on one area the battle intensifies in another. The drug war functions like a Mobius loop; as one drug goes out of fashion another becomes all the rage and law enforcement is never quite able to keep up. This is further complicated by the refinement of existing drugs, such as crystal meth and high-grade marijuana.

In both seasons agents break into the homes of dealers with the intent of getting them to flip on their suppliers. Of all the things these agents enjoy, flipping up the food chain is at the top of their list. To them the criminal must be complicit in shoring up law enforcement; they must acquiesce to the will of the DEA.

Even the most cursory viewer will acknowledge that Spike’s programming often centers on the lowest common denominator. In this case poor folks are filmed while they get busted while gunslinger cops crack jokes in the background. In fact, reality shows are generally all about taking the easy route; there’s no need for a writer, script or imagination. Just rake in the benefits of low overhead while filming someone else’s misery.

While the show focuses on a group of high-tech narcs, it’s hardly the agency’s first foray into propaganda. Target America: Eyes open to the damage drugs cause was the DEA’s “traveling museum” which attempted to illustrate a connection between the drug war and the war on terror. The operating assumption behind the exhibit was that terrorists need narcotic sales to fund their activities; thus, by extension, buying or selling drugs promotes terrorism. Ever wonder what happened to all those old anti-drug commercials? They were recycled for Target America, just as portions of DEA will very likely be recycled for future anti-drug campaigns.

DEA plays every Tuesday evening at 10:00 Easter time on the Spike network.

In a 21st-century analogue to the early 20th century practice of movie studios buying up...

Comments

20 Comments

claudette on
August 30, 2010 4:45 am

This is such a great show.I make sure I am home when it comes on,wont go out until done I take my hat off to all those guys who are DANGERING THEIR LIVES for us,by taking off those dam druggies,
Need to just ask one thing when a helicopter is in the air ,would the drug dealers not realise they are followed or hear the helicopter,
Guys keep up the good work,

Anonymous on
January 20, 2010 3:05 am

Who the hell!, in there right mind evers watch this fuck up spike network anyways?? And why are you given the enemy free air time about there bullshit?, OH yea part of the plea deal ung? first rule when your enemy on you, NEVER give free artice or air time to assholes and fools that your first mistake here kiddies, dont give any COPY to the enemy, let it die on fox network only?

Anonymous on
July 17, 2009 6:16 am

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Anonymous on
June 15, 2009 6:11 am

American tv makes no sense, spike in particular because they can show people get violently arrested and their lives ruined or show you a 1000 different ways one can die with very graphic death sequences, but under no circumstances would you ever see a nipple on spike tv because that would be immoral……remember janet jacksons titty and the death and destruction that thing caused!

Anonymous on
May 29, 2009 6:27 pm

Or different levels on DEA and COPS. First and foremost, these shows depict the most obvious, that pot wielding citizens are more passive and never resist arrest as opposed to the alcohol junkies that run,drive dangerously trying to escape and resist arrest constantly. THese shows prove that pot is the BENIGN substance and meth and alcohol drive the violent misery behind the crimes. When will America get it, that pot is safer and causes way less if any domestice violence than alcohol , why don’t these pigs go and bust all of the booze shops and bars where people get hammered, oh but wait , coz HENRY ANLSINGER said so, FUCK HENRY ANSLINGER. FUCK THE DEA SHOW.. PEOPLE don’t support this shit by not watching it. FUCK spike.

Chino on
May 26, 2009 1:15 am

This show is a joke! Worse than COPS. It’s unreal how many laws are broken and rights trampled by these DEA PIGS! Pathetic!

BAD COP! NO DONUT!

Anonymous on
May 25, 2009 7:16 pm

Spike is shit. DEA are scum. Fuck ’em both.

Froody on
May 25, 2009 7:49 am

The most effective way to have an impact is to contact spike, inform them of the offensiveness of the show, explain you will not support them and that you intend to write to the their advertisers as well. In terms of stat analysis, every complaint represents a larger group. Anyone down for some action?

Anyone here with dvr willing to post the advertisers for the show here?

I cannot think of a good reason to sit idle while people profit from suffering.

Reverend Draco on
May 24, 2009 10:27 pm

I used to watch Spike fairly regularly. . . usually one show a day, sometimes more. . .
That has ended.
Not gonna watch Spike any more. . . and I am making note of their advertisers as I channel surf on by. . . and will be informing them, as I have informed Spike, that as long as DEA is being aired, they will get none of my business.
This is bullshit – yet another example of the Glorification of Criminal Street Gangs (the Gestapo). . . fuck em.

indijo27 on
May 24, 2009 5:31 pm

They should call the show: DEAth Merchants, inc.

What reinforces the “war” metaphor is the manner in which these predominantly white teams refer to primarily black neighborhoods as “enemy territory” and occasionally will break into dehumanizing rants about how “these people are all scum bags.”

It’s because the DEA is a Neo-Nazi, KKK foothold in the US Federal government and Harry Anslinger, one of the worst white-supremacist thugs in the history of the USA, is their biggest hero.

Farris on
May 24, 2009 2:13 am

This is one of my favourite shows. It drives me nuts to think that the DEA thinks they are soldiers in a war. Pfffft shiiit some war. Have you ever heard of a war where one side is cheering on the other? When will these dumb ass cops get it that every time they make a bust someone else makes a buck. There is a reason why growers vote conservative.

Who were the old supporters of alcohol prohibition? The cops, the religious puritans and the alcohol gangs.

Anonymous on
May 23, 2009 7:44 pm

was a bunch of cock suckers. I very much dislike these kinds of shows. they are ruining our future generations and keeping us as slaves. Fuck the DEA.

josh on
May 23, 2009 7:06 pm

FUCK THE LAW!!! OVERGROW AMERICA, SOW THE SEED GROW THE WEED!!!

Bradson on
May 23, 2009 5:58 pm

This program, along with the entire drug war, has the unintended consequence of stimulating the production of more alternative drugs and publicizing them to children. On the plus side, marijuana use might never have become as popular as quickly without being brought to public attention continuously by drug warriors. Unfortunately, truly toxic bootleg pharmecueticals are also getting a big boost from this free advertising. Since young people who try cannabis discover that they’ve been lied to, what’s to keep them from assuming these other substances aren’t just as benign in reality. After all, marijuana has been described in terms similar to what the DEA uses to describe crack or meth or heroin. Misinformation and lies open the gateway to dangerous drugs and undermine public trust in the law.

So, thank you DEA for enabling more people to be aware of and discover the benefits of cannabis for themselves, but thumbs down for also making truly dangerous white powders more well-known, more widely used, and only available in unreliable forms from dangerouos people.

Anonymous on
May 23, 2009 5:23 pm

the commercial claims that they fight the high ups in the drug industry and help to take it out, but I’ve never seen them take anyone important out. This show has only show them bust low-level dealers that probably don’t even make enough for their rent from drug dealing

Big Baby Jesus on
May 23, 2009 5:08 pm

If you’re wondering how the DEA and narcs in general work, it’s simple. They wait for some traitor to rat you out, and then you’re fucked. Some pathetic assholes will go to great lengths to smear the shit they stepped in all over you, often times to their detriment as well. Narcs are not clever gumshoes, they’re the dorks from high school that were so scarred from being picked on that they went out and got a job where they can pick on people with impunity. In other words, they aren’t very smart, just very misguided and/or evil. So….now you know how those fuckers operate, and there is no reason for you to watch this most tragic of operas unfold. If no one watches, these assholes will have to be anonymous losers pricks versus famous loser pricks and Spike will get the message that Americans do not like watching pure evil in action.

Anonymous on
May 23, 2009 3:30 pm

and all of there abuses.i can think of no better excuse to stop the war against americans than to watch this show .and see what these animals do to people .they are horrible .

Arnold Jackson on
May 23, 2009 4:23 am

Yeah, they pretty much pander to the bigoted, lowbrow, ‘Archie Bunker’ type with this show. White cops with buzz-cuts treating primarily black individuals pretty much like dirt with constant condescending comments and rights-abuses. Worth noting, in later episodes they’ve spliced in a ‘group prayer’ before every door is violently kicked in and children are traumatized, people are thrown to the floor like animals, and a small handful of cannabis plant-matter, if anything, is found; they’re carrying out ‘God’s Will’ now, I suppose. Funny, they started running this heavily right before the last US election; were they attempting to send a subconscious message to the masses, or?